Page 65 of Soul of Shadow
“Loki envied Odin’s place as the Allfather. It wasn’t enough for them to be partners; he wanted the throne for himself.” Sophie rested a hand atop the hilt of her sword, as if preparing for someone to burst through the window. “Long before the gods laid the Seal, Loki set out to usurp Odin’s position. He fathered a great many beasts, each deadlier than the one before. He didn’t care for the danger the beasts presented to the humans. Herelishedit; he knew how deeply Odin cared for human life, and he exploited that tenderness to his own gain. He said, in essence,Give me the throne or watch your precious humans burn.”
By now, Charlie’s eyebrows were halfway up her forehead. “But I heardOdinbetrayedLoki.”
Sophie blew air through her lips. “Right. And who did you hear that from? It wasn’t a certain mare of night, was it?”
Horrible premonition trickled down Charlie’s spine.A certain mare of night.
“No,” Sophie went on. “Odin did not betray Loki. It was the other way around. Loki is the beginning and the end of why the gods decided to create the Seal—because of how dangerous his army of beasts had become. And although Loki never succeeded in usurping Odin’s throne, he did manage to do something else: kill Odin’s most beloved child, Balder.”
“Oh.” At those words, Charlie was transported two years back. To the week after Sophie’s supposed death. To the overwhelming, air-sucking grief that hung over her home. To a mother who didn’t get out of bed for a week. Who, when she finally did, cooked meals like a zombie, drove them to school like a zombie, and whose flame of life seemed to have been extinguishedentirely. She knew what the death of a child did to parents. She could only imagine the bloodred rage that Odin would have felt toward Loki. He would have been blinded by it.
“As punishment for his crime,” Sophie said, “Loki was banished to Helheim, the underworld, where he lives with his daughter. Odin and the remaining gods joined together to lay the Seal, thus protecting humanity from Loki’s many beasts.” She paused. “Loki has not stopped trying to destroy the Seal since.”
This bit lined up with what Charlie already knew. Carefully, without revealing anything, she asked, “What does Elias have to do with this?”
“Did he tell youhowhe became a night mare?” Sophie asked, taking a step closer to her sister. Her leather boots were eerily silent atop the carpet, as if she weren’t there at all. “Did he tell you what he had to bargain to go from human to creature of the night? Or how you were able to see him without the assistance of the eyaerberry?”
Charlie’s eyes widened. She hadn’t considered that. How had she overlooked it? Before she ate the eyaerberry, the world was entirely normal. No magic, no monsters…exceptfor Elias. She saw him shift into his mare form with only her raw human eyes.
“I suppose…” Charlie sifted through her swirling thoughts. “I suppose I chalked it up to how he had once been human. That the human part of him allowed me to see him?”
“That much is accurate,” Sophie said. “Mares and Valkyries are the only two creatures that can be made from humans, which puts us in a unique position: neither fully human, nor fully Asgardian. Able to interact with both.”
“How did he become a mare, then? Did he have to ask for Odin’s blessing, too?”
Sophie’s lips curled back. “Odin would never create such a disgusting creature. No—to become a mare, a human must travel to the underworld and speak to Loki personally. Most often, they trade their service—and a portion of their soul—for something they want desperately.”
The cold premonition dripping down Charlie’s spine increased in power, turning from a trickle to an outright flood. “And what did Elias want?”
“We don’t know,” said Sophie. “But we do know what Loki asked him to do in return.”
“What’s that?”
“The mare told you of the Seal, yes?”
“He did.” Charlie thought back to earlier that evening, to the draugar that chased them through the parking lot. The scars on her back and side burned dully.
“Well. The gods did their best to make the Seal strong, a formidable wall between Asgardian creatures and humans… but no magic is absolute. A spell spread out over such a wide stretch of space—over an entire planet—is bound to have a few cracks.”
“Cracks,” Charlie repeated, blinking at her twin.
“Loopholes. Openings. Weak spots that Loki can exploit from Helheim in the hopes that, one day, he can destroy the Seal altogether. Unleash his beasts onto your people. Kill however many it takes to bully Odin off his throne.”
Cracks.Charlie thought of the little girl with the cotton candy. The one who had so clearly been able to see the draugar. Was that what had happened? Had the monster slipped through a crack in the Seal? Was it still out in the woods, wandering around, perfectly able to touch or steal or kill whatever human it pleased? The thought made her sick.
“In the past, we Valkyries have had little problem getting to these cracks in a timely manner. A few beasts might make their way out, which often leaves a permanent scar on the community—no doubt you’ve heard of Area 51 or the various Bigfoot sightings up north—but generally speaking, life carries on as usual. The problem is—” Her hand balled into a fist, the leather of her fingerless gloves squeezing tight over her knuckles. “The cracks are multiplying.”
Charlie’s heart picked up speed. She thought of the great wolf prowling down the street, a beast that looked as if it could rip the hearts out of an entire crowd of people without breaking a sweat. “What do you mean, multiplying?”
Sophie gazed out the window. “I mean just that: cracks are opening all across this world. Too many at once for us to handle alone. Not to mention the half dozen other wicked schemes that Loki has up his sleeve at any given time. This realm—” She looked back at Charlie. “It’s in grave danger.”
“So, Loki is the one opening the cracks in the Seal?”
“Of course he is,” said Sophie, the distaste in her tone obvious. “He hates the Seal with every fiber of his immortal being. The night mares were his own invention, a loophole he exploited to act out his will outside the Seal.”
“So Elias is…” Charlie felt her heart starting to cleave in two, to split open and drip out all the foolish hope that had begun to gather there. “He’s working for Loki.”
He’s working for Loki.
